A store that runs in order from order to shipment.

What you need to know before opening an e-commerce site

An e-commerce site is a sales site where products are listed, customers build a cart and pay online, and the order is tracked through to shipping. A store running on your own domain gives you more control over pricing, campaigns, customer data and brand appearance than marketplaces do.

That said, you also have to bring the traffic to your own store yourself. On a marketplace there is a ready audience of visitors; on your own site you attract visitors through advertising, search engines and social media. That is why many businesses run both channels together: they keep selling on the marketplace while growing a loyal customer list in their own store. With customers who buy from your own site, to the extent they have given permission, you can get back in touch by email and notifications, and you can plan your campaigns without being tied to a marketplace's calendar.

Choosing the infrastructure: ready-made system or custom build?

E-commerce sites are usually built in one of three ways: rented ready-made e-commerce packages, open-source e-commerce software, or custom development to your needs. Which suits you depends on your number of products, your variant structure, your integration needs and your team's technical comfort. A simple structure is enough for a business starting with few products, while a catalog that needs dealer pricing, multi-warehouse stock or matching with accounting software calls for a different infrastructure. In the first meeting we explain these options with their pros and cons and help you decide.

When choosing, you need to think not only about today but also about two or three years from now. It matters whether the infrastructure will allow for it when the number of products grows or when selling abroad or a dealer panel comes up. With rented systems the monthly fee and package limits should be taken into account, and with open-source systems the responsibility for updates and security. Whichever path is chosen, being able to export your product, order and customer data strengthens your hand if you want to change infrastructure later.

How are payment, shipping and stock connected?

• Payment: For card payments, a payment provider or your bank's virtual POS service is used. The application is made in your company's name and the contract is signed with you; we set up the technical integration. Installment options and commissions are determined by your contract.
• Shipping: With the integration of the shipping company you have agreed with, a shipment record can be created when an order is confirmed, and the tracking number can be sent to the customer automatically.
• Stock: Stock is kept per product and variant. If you also sell in a physical store, integration options with the software you use are evaluated so that stock is deducted from a single place.
• Invoicing: For your e-Archive or e-Invoice process, we clarify the integration options of the accounting software you use together with your accountant.

Legal pages and KVKK

Businesses selling over the internet in Turkey must inform consumers before the sale and present the contract texts. A store should have at least the distance sales contract, the pre-contract information form, return and withdrawal conditions, delivery information, the KVKK privacy notice and a cookie notice. At the payment step there are boxes where the customer reads and accepts these texts. We handle the technical placement of these pages and approval steps; we recommend checking together with your legal adviser that the texts suit your business. Payment providers also review these pages during the application.

Mobile shopping experience and speed

In e-commerce most visitors come from a phone, and every hitch at the cart step can mean a lost sale. That is why we take care that product images load quickly, filters are easy to use with a finger, the add-to-cart button is always visible, and the payment form is kept as short as possible. The option to order without registering, clear shipping and return information, and secure payment indicators make it easier for the customer to decide. For speed we rely on Core Web Vitals values and especially test category pages with many product images. For abandoned carts, features such as a reminder email, product comparison or a wishlist can be added as needed; but since every extra feature can make the page heavier, we recommend choosing only the ones that will really be used.

Product pages and search visibility

Every product page is, in effect, a page that can be found separately in search engines. Unique product descriptions, correct titles, a clean URL structure, image alt texts and product structured data are the basis of this visibility. Copying the manufacturer's text as it is means sharing the same content with hundreds of sites selling the same product. Also, planning from the start how to handle pages of out-of-stock products, rather than deleting them, preserves the search visibility built up. If you will advertise, a product feed is also planned at setup so that the product catalog can be passed to shopping campaigns on Google and Meta.

On-site and online work, common mistakes

With businesses in Sakarya and around, we can examine the warehouse, store and product structure on site and give the panel training face to face. With companies across Turkey the process runs online through video calls, a preview address and written approvals. The mistakes we meet most often in these projects are:

1. Leaving the payment provider application to the last week.
2. Sending product information in a disorganized table; deciding the variant, stock and price columns from the start shortens the upload time.
3. Hiding the shipping fee and return conditions until the payment page.
4. Opening for sales without making a test order.
5. Opening the domain, store panel and payment account in the name of someone outside the company.